Opponents to a controversial pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast are pushing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to order another environmental impact study of the project by her department. A letter signed by 28 members of Congress, who say the original State Department study was deeply flawed, was released by the No Tar Sands Coalition, which includes the Natural Resources Defence Council. The coalition said earlier that it had launched a half-million-dollar ad campaign designed to convince U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would be built by TransCanada Corp. of Calgary, which has one of North America’s largest networks of energy pipelines. The company has said the pipeline is necessary to provide the United States with a dependable source of oil and insisted it will be environmentally responsible. The politicians’ letter, dated Dec. 3 and signed by members of House of Representatives, opposes the Keystone XL pipeline and the oilsands as a whole on environmental grounds. Among the signatories were Representative Steve Cohen, who sits on the House committee that oversees U.S. pipelines, and Representative Jay Inslee, who is on the House committees that deal with energy and natural resources. The letter says the politicians are concerned about Clinton’s statement that the U.S. State department is “inclined to approve’’ the Keystone project. TransCanada Corp. needs a permit from the State Department before it can begin construction on Keystone XL, which would stretch 3,200 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., to Port Arthur, Texas. ((10 DEC 2010))